This morning in Madrid the Cotec Foundation presented their year end 2013 report on technology and innovation in Spain. The document reveals devastating information on the present and the future of the Spanish system of innovation. As noted by the director of the Foundation, Juan Mulet, "according to the INE, since the crisis began in Spain in the year 2008-2011, the number of companies with innovative activities decreased by 43%, while the business with R&D activities reduced by 36%. "A decline, that is continues this way, experts say, will reduce Spanish companies with R&D activities in half.
The newest development of this year is that for the first R & D development indicators in Spain have fallen, although the figures are not entirely negative: a drop of 5.8% in the public sector and 1.5 % in the private sector. On the good note Positive side, Mulet pointed out that at least the public investment system has remained after the crisis and has not dropped until two years later. In regards to the enterprise level, the crisis has not halted R & D activities : current expenditure remained until 2011 and since this date has dropped only 1.5%, while the total R&D has declined only 2.8%.
According to the report, the companies most affected by the economic crisis have been the SMEs that had between 10 and 49 employees, especially those that were not consolidated or were forming.Mulet pointed out that the worst part of all this is "there has been no reaction from anyone despite the importance of losing a new business". In addition, the director of the Foundation added that "our society is not yet aware of the importance of innovation to ensure our economic growth and we need to invest in a production model based on the use of knowledge to create value, ie on innovation. "
